Your guide to understanding how roll works on artificial turf.
The Physics of Golf
Physics. It impacts everything in life, and also the popular game of golf.
Physics, defined as the nature and properties of matter and energy: how the club impacts the ball, the ball’s trajectory through the air, the ball’s initial bounce, and the ultimate roll out.
Ideally, the ground in the direction of the shot would be perfectly flat, perfectly uphill, or perfectly downhill would be perfectly flat, perfectly uphill, or perfectly downhill in the direction of the shot. This would make getting the ball into the hole an easy matter by hitting it in a straight line.
Often, you’ll see that the ground is sloped. Now the ball’s path can’t be a straight line to enter the hole, making it a more challenging task. When this happens, the ball must now follow a precise curved path to enter the hole. How much the ball must curve is dependent on the grade of the slope and undulation of the putting green.
Whether synthetic turf or natural grass is selected to build your ideal backyard putting green, the physical characteristics of the surface factor into the performance. We utilize a mix of commonly used golf course tests and our proprietary playability testing.
A standard test for ball roll is the stimpmeter test. Stimp testing gives the calculated distance a ball rolls on artificial turf in meters when released from a one-meter height. The ball-to-surface interaction of the grass is directly correlated to the distance of the ball roll.
Our proprietary playability testing for roll analyzes the consistency of outputs with a standard putting stroke. Our test analyzes the initial bounce of the club face and the spin to roll transition.
Let’s take a deeper analysis at the items that influence how a golf ball reacts and rolls on a turf.
Green Characteristics
Product Construction: Plastics that are extruded and recycled and available in various combinations of constructions, colors, and lengths. Proper construction is vital to ensure key putting green installation practices; construction enables turf to be infilled and rolled. Properly rolled fibers look and play like natural greens.
Pile Height: The grass blades’ thickness and height will provide differences in friction; having an effect on the velocity and smoothness of your putt.
Fiber: Fiber composition has a notable effect on how the golf ball rolls throughout the putt. Fiber composition will affect friction and pile lay. How the turf lays affects how the ball interacts with the surface.
Infill: Intrinsic to the turf system, infill is composed of rounded washed silica. Infill gives ballast and aids drainage. How the infill is shaped is critical to performance; angles and edges create roll disruptions.
Aggregate Base: Stone is compacted to create challenging slopes and undulations; one that performs and drains like a championship golf course.
The formula to creating a Backyard Putting Green that performs like a Championship Golf Green utilizes the best raw materials with elite-proven-tested installation techniques. This is especially important when you’re on the putting green aiming to gently hit the ball into the hole.
The Southwest Greens Difference
Southwest Greens has been able to quantify key performance indicators. By understanding which variables impact performance, we’ve been able to mimic natural greens.
With Golden Bear Turf, you will have smoother rolls comparable to playing on your favorite championship course. Scientifically tested and developed to mimic natural grass, from the initial bounce off the clubface... to the spin transition… to the smooth ball roll into the cup...
Golden Bear presents only the best! It’s the best backyard practice putting green that offers the most realistic putting surfaces on the market.